Electrical interconnect with maximized electrical contact

ABSTRACT

An electrical interconnect has an adhesive layer in which is formed an array of apertures, the apertures being of non-circular shape. An electrical circuit apparatus has a first circuit having at least one electrical contact, a second circuit having at least one electrical contact aligned to the electrical contact of the first circuit, and a standoff structure between the first and second circuits having at least one aperture aligned to one electrical contact of the first and second circuits, the aperture being of a non-circular shape.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Divisional Application of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/298,421, entitled ELECTRICAL INTERCONNECT WITH MAXIMIZEDELECTRICAL CONTACT, filed Dec. 9, 2005, the disclosure of which isherein incorporated by the reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

High density electrical interconnects pose many challenges. Theinterconnect must be able to achieve a high yield of parts having 100%of the connections with electrical continuity and without any shorts.The long term reliability, where shorts or opens do not develop overtime or with thermal cycling or mechanical disturbances, is critical.The interconnect must satisfy significant geometrical constraints.Finally, assembly of the interconnect should be an efficient process.Generally, the more surface area available with which to make aconnection, the more robust is the connection. As electricalinterconnects become smaller and have larger numbers of contacts thesmall contact areas available for each connection fail to satisfy therequirements listed above.

SUMMARY

An electrical interconnect has an adhesive layer in which an array ofapertures are formed, the apertures being of non-circular shape.

An electrical circuit apparatus has a first circuit having at least oneelectrical contact, a second circuit having at least one electricalcontact aligned to the electrical contact of the first circuit, and astandoff structure between the first and second circuits having at leastone aperture aligned to one electrical contact of the first and secondcircuits, the aperture being of a non-circular shape.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a standoff positioned between two electrical circuits.

FIG. 2 shows arrays of apertures at different densities.

FIG. 3 shows different surface areas for differently shaped apertures.

FIGS. 4-7 show a process of manufacturing an apparatus with a standoff.

FIG. 8 shows a print head having a standoff.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In FIG. 1, two electrical circuits are brought together in theelectrical interconnect. The electrical interconnect may lie between aplanar array of electromechanical transducers and a corresponding arrayof contact pads for each element in the transducer array. The contactpads may be on a flexible circuit or on a rigid circuit board.Electrical continuity between each element in the transducer array andeach corresponding pad on the rigid or flexible circuit is accomplishedwith a conductive adhesive. An additional element in the interconnect isreferred to herein as a “standoff”. The standoff is an adhesive elementhaving an array of openings that correspond to and align with thetransducer array and array of contacts.

The contacts 11 on the first electrical circuit 10 are aligned with theapertures 16 on the standoff 12. The contacts 13 on the secondelectrical circuit 14 are then aligned with the apertures on theopposite of the standoff from the electrical circuit 10, and the two arejoined together by some sort of conductive material 18.

Generally, the apertures in the standoff may be circular, as circularapertures follow conventional manufacturing approaches. The electricalcontacts typically have a square, rectangular or other rhomboid shape.The mating of these geometries may result in a low surface area ofcontact. At lower densities of contacts, the apertures and contacts mayhave a larger size to alleviate this difficulty.

As the density of electrical circuits increase, the contacts and theapertures to connect those contacts become smaller within a same circuitsize. For example, as shown in FIG. 2 a particular circuit has 880contacts within a particular size connection area of X by Y resulting incontacts such as 20. At higher densities, the same size connection areaX by Y may need to support 1236 contacts, shown by contacts such as 22.For example, rows may be added to the same circuit area. For some pad ortransducer geometries, using a non-circular aperture allows the samedensity to be achieved, but with more surface area available forconnection.

As shown in FIG. 3, a close up of the matching surface area of arhomboid contact 24 and the circular aperture such as 34 rendersconsiderable surface area of the contact unusable as shown by thehatched area. In contrast, a non-circular aperture 26 matched to therhomboid contact 36 results in a greater amount of usable surface areaas shown by the clear area. Experiments have shown an increase of usablesurface area of 83%. In one embodiment, the aperture was elliptical withan aspect ratio of 1.5:1.

Using a non-circular aperture in the standoff may provide a more robustconnection. Current manufacturing processes generally use circularapertures due to the nature of the cutting process, but it is possibleto manipulate the cutting process to form non-circular apertures such aselliptical apertures. These allow for a much higher utilization of thecontact surface area for connection.

An example of a method of forming an electrical interconnect is shown inFIGS. 4-7. In FIG. 4, the standoff 12, shown here as an adhesivematerial in which are formed an array of non-circular apertures 16, isapplied to a first electrical circuit 10 having an array of electricalcontacts such as 11 such that the apertures 16 are aligned with thecontacts. The adhesive standoff may be acrylic, epoxy, phenolic,polyimide, silicone adhesive, a thermoset adhesive or a contact(pressure sensitive) adhesive. In addition, the adhesive standoff may bea laminate structure with adhesive on either side of a polymeric film.The laminate structure could be double-sided tape for example.

Applying the adhesive standoff may first involve manufacturing an arrayof apertures in the adhesive material. It is possible to manufacture thenon-circular apertures 16 in the standoff 12 in many ways. They can beformed by laser cutting, drilling, punching or die cutting, as examples.Laser cutting of the apertures can be performed withgalvanometer-scanned lasers such as CO₂ or diode-pumped solid statelasers. Alternatively, the cutting may be performed over extended arrayswith an excimer laser using a contact or projection mask to pattern theapertures. The apertures, however manufactured, are then attached to thefirst electrical circuit. Alternative methods of producing the standoffelement could include die cutting or casting over a mandrel.

In FIG. 5, a stencil 28 is applied to the array of apertures to alignholes in the stencil with the apertures. In FIG. 6, a layer ofconductive material 18 is applied through the stencil 28 to theapertures. The stencil may have holes with a non-circular shape to aidin placing the desired amount of conductive material in the apertures.Applying the layer of conductive material may involve spreading theconductive material over the stencil such that the conductive materialenters the apertures, as an example. Alternatively, epoxy could bedispensed into the individual apertures 16. The conductive material maybe a conductive paste, silver epoxy, low melt solder paste such as anyindium alloy powders suspended in a flux.

In FIG. 7, the stencil has been removed and the second electricalcircuit 14 is attached. The second electrical circuit has a second arrayof contacts such as 13 that are aligned with the apertures 16 and thenpressed or otherwise mated to the apertures filled with conductivematerial 18. The non-circular apertures of the standoff provide moresurface area for the two sets of contacts to use in connection throughthe conductive material.

Many different types of electronic devices may employ the resultingelectrical structure. For example, a print head may attached to itsprinted circuit board, flexible cable or other electronic substrate thatprovides the control signals for operation of the print head. The firstelectrical circuit may be an actuator array that drives the individualjets of the print head, such as that shown in FIG. 8.

The first electrical circuit 10 in this example may be an array oftransducers for an ink printer. The first electrical circuit 10 maycomprise a piezoelectric actuator, for example. The piezoelectricactuator may have a piezo layer 41 between electrodes 43. The actuator,upon receiving a signal from the controller 50, would change dimensionsand cause the diaphragm 37 to push downwards. Ink 33 taken from an inkreservoir or other source flows into the chamber 35 through the inlet31. When the diaphragm pushed down, a drop of ink 49 pushed out theoutlet 45 through a nozzle 47 onto a print medium 48.

The transducer receives the signal through the second electrical circuit14 that is mated to the first electrical circuit 10 through the standoff12, having apertures 16. In this example, it is this mating thatbenefits from the increase surface area of the connection. The abovediscussion is only intended as an example of a connection that mayutilize the standoff with non-circular apertures. Having larger drops ofconductive epoxy also provides more robustness to the assembly processto avoid either opens or shorts for some of the elements in theinterconnect. No limitation of the claims is intended nor should beinferred.

The standoff serves two functions. The first is to confine theconductive adhesive to a small zone between the transducer and itscorresponding pad for each element in the array. The second function ofthe standoff is to hold the transducer and contact arrays in closeproximity and in a fixed spatial relationship, i.e., so that they do notmove relative to one another. The standoff in the embodiments here hasnon-circular openings for some or all of the interconnects in the arrayto enable maximal contact area between non-circular transducers.

It will be appreciated that various of the above-disclosed and otherfeatures and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be desirablycombined into many other different systems or applications. Also thatvarious presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives,modifications, variations, or improvements therein may be subsequentlymade by those skilled in the art which are also intended to beencompassed by the following claims.

1. A method of making an electrical circuit structure, comprising:applying an adhesive standoff having an array of apertures to a firstelectrical circuit having a first array of electrical contacts such thatthe array of apertures is aligned with the first array of electricalcontacts; depositing a conductive material in the apertures to makecontact with the first array of electrical contacts, forming an array ofconductive material drops; and attaching a second electrical circuithaving a second array of electrical contacts on the standoff such thatthe second array of electrical contacts are aligned with the array ofconductive material drops to form a connection with the first array ofelectrical contacts.
 2. The method of claim 1, applying an adhesivestandoff further comprising: forming the array of apertures in anadhesive material; and attaching the adhesive material to the firstelectrical circuit.
 3. The method of claim 2, forming the array ofapertures further comprising forming the array of apertures by lasercutting.
 4. The method of claim 1, applying an adhesive standoff furthercomprising applying an adhesive standoff to an array of transducers fora print head.
 5. The method of claim 1, depositing a conductive materialfurther comprising: aligning a stencil to the array of apertures;applying the conductive material by spreading the conducting materialover the stencil so that the conductive material enters the apertures;and removing the stencil.
 6. The method of claim 1, attaching a secondelectrical circuit further comprising attaching a flex cable to thestandoff.
 7. The method of claim 16 the method further comprisingconnecting the flex cable to drive electronics for a printer.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, attaching a second electrical circuit furthercomprising attaching a printed circuit board to the standoff.